The museum's rink shut after 16 seasons and its site is now a garden. The nearest ice this winter is Hyde Park from 19 November, or Queensway all year round.

Every autumn people start searching for tickets to the ice rink outside the Natural History Museum. It is not coming back. The museum’s own page for it now reads, in full:

The Natural History Museum Ice Rink has now closed. After an incredible 16 years of ice skating at the Museum, the five-acre gardens on which the rink used to sit have now been transformed into a hub for urban wildlife.

That is from the Natural History Museum itself, checked on 3 September 2026.

When it actually ended

The last season was 22 October 2021 to 16 January 2022, and it was announced as the last one at the time, not cancelled at short notice. Ian Mansfield reported on 24 August 2021 that the grounds would host the rink “for the very last time” that winter, because the plan to revamp the front gardens “will reduce the amount of flat surface available for the ice rink” (IanVisits).

The five acres are now the museum’s gardens, free to walk through, part of its Urban Nature Project. So the rink has been gone for four winters, which is why it is worth ignoring any listing that still promotes it. One that does is inkensington.co.uk, which still recommends “ice skating at the Natural History Museum” alongside a fireworks display in Maxilla Gardens that also no longer happens.

The nearest ice this winter: Hyde Park

Hyde Park Winter Wonderland runs from 19 November 2026 to 3 January 2027, and its rink is the closest seasonal one to Kensington, a walk across Kensington Gardens from the High Street. From the event’s own attraction page:

  • Sessions run 10.00am to 9.00pm, and you pick a time slot when you book
  • Each session lasts 45 minutes, and you are asked to arrive 20 minutes early
  • Age 3 and over; anyone aged 3 to 12 must be with a skating adult of 18 or over
  • Skates are included, in children’s size 8 up to adult 13, with a few 14s and 15s
  • You can bring your own skates, but not speed skates
  • Wheelchairs are allowed on the ice, with ramps in and out
  • Bags must go in the cloakroom at £2 per item, and phones and cameras are not allowed on the ice

Advance prices, again from the event’s own page:

Ticket Off-peak Standard Peak
Adult £12.65 £17.05 £19.25
Child £9.35 £11.55 £13.75
Family £37.40 £46.20 £55.00
Concession £11.65 £16.05 £18.25
Ice guide £39.50 £39.50 £39.50

Advance prices are only available up to 11.59pm the day before you visit, so booking on the morning costs more. The rink is built around the Victoria bandstand at Skater’s Corner.

The one that is open all year: Queensway

If you want to skate outside the six-week festive window, QUEENS at 17 Queensway, W2 4QP is an indoor rink about a mile from Notting Hill Gate. It calls itself the oldest surviving ice rink in London, open since 1930.

Its published session prices start at £8 for Monday and Tuesday “Madness” skating, £10 for late skate, £11.75 off-peak and £13.75 peak, and it says you can usually walk in, though booking online is cheaper (QUEENS). Skate hire, penguin hire and lessons are extra.

Both of these sit just over the boundary in Westminster. There is no equivalent rink inside Kensington and Chelsea.

What about Somerset House

Somerset House usually runs a rink in its courtyard, and third-party listings are already quoting winter 2026-27 dates for it. We are not repeating them, because on 3 September the venue’s own What’s On listings carried no Skate entry at all. We will add it when Somerset House publishes it.

Getting there

For Winter Wonderland the useful gates from this side are on the west of Hyde Park; Lancaster Gate, Marble Arch and Hyde Park Corner are the nearest tubes, and Queensway and Bayswater serve QUEENS. Driving to either is a poor idea in December: see parking in Kensington and Chelsea for what the borough charges, and check roadworks and travel before you go.